Sébastien Pocognoli looks to make his mark at Monaco after ‘chaotic’ start | OneFootball

“I had to calm them down,” said Sébastien Pocognoli during his presentation as manager on Tuesday. His comments came after a first training that on Friday, he described as “chaotic” as his players clamoured to make a positive first impression on their new manager.

Pocognoli arrived at Monaco over the weekend, replacing Adi Hutter. With many players on international duty and others injured, the Belgian worked with a reduced group, composed of several academy products.

His first impressions of the squad are positive, even if his opinion was slightly caveated. “Intensity is very positive, even if the first training session was quite chaotic because there was much too much intensity,” said Pocognoli in a press conference attended by Get French Football News.

It has been a whirlwind week for the new Monaco manager, who will stand on the touchline for the club for the first time against SCO Angers on Saturday.

“Not everything will be perfect [against Angers],” admitted Pocognoli. “That’s why I am here too, to provide a margin for progression over the coming weeks.”

His focus has been on not overloading his new squad, even if he is desperate to quickly make his mark on this Monaco side. “We haven’t covered 36 topics over the course of the week, but if I can see some of those that we have worked on on Saturday, I would already be delighted. I think, for example, that we needed a bit more structure with and without the ball. From there, I hope that we can play some good football,” said Pocognoli.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle – reporting from Monaco